The government on March 10 approved a bill to significantly raise immigration fees, effectively increasing the cost to renew or change residence status by more than tenfold and the fee for permanent residency by twentyfold.
Under the proposal, fees for visa status changes would jump from 6,000 yen ($38) to as much as 70,000 yen. The cost to apply for permanent residence would climb from 10,000 yen to around 200,000 yen.
The legislation also establishes the Japan Electronic System for Travel Authorization (JESTA), set to launch in 2028.
The government aims for the bill’s passage during the current extraordinary Diet session.
The plan was first outlined in the government’s key economic and fiscal policy blueprint, approved by the Cabinet in June.
It called for raising residence fees in line with other major countries and exploring the use of JESTA fees as a funding source for policies for foreign nationals.
By collecting user fees from visitors to Japan and others who enter without a visa, JESTA is expected to generate more than 100 billion yen in revenue.
With the number of foreign residents reaching approximately 4.13 million at the end of 2025—nearly double the figure from 10 years ago—the Immigration Services Agency had intended for this to be a funding source for policies such as Japanese language education for residents.
However, JESTA revenue will be mainly collected from tourists on short-term stays.
“Using JESTA fees, which are determined based on actual costs, for foreign nationals residing in the medium to long term lacks a logical basis,” said a senior official at the immigration agency.
Therefore, the government decided to ask international residents, who are the recipients of services such as language education, to contribute based on the “beneficiary-pays principle” by raising residence fees.
A 1981 amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law stipulates that the upper limit for fees was 10,000 yen.
Under the new bill, this upper limit will be raised to 100,000 yen for renewals or changes of residence status and to 300,000 yen for permanent residence applications.
The actual fees will be set by Cabinet order.
A NEW REVENUE STREAM
Against a backdrop of rising prices, the government and ruling parties have rolled out a series of measures to reduce the burden on the public, making it more difficult to secure financial resources through tax increases.
The government aims for the boost in revenue from the fee hikes to exceed the budget for policies related to non-Japanese nationals to allow the surplus to be diverted to other measures.
The Finance Ministry has said that in fiscal 2026 it will allocate 40 percent, approximately 93 billion yen, of the increased revenue from three fee hikes for foreign nationals to partially fund other initiatives, such as free education and abolishing the former provisional gasoline tax rate.
(This article was written by Yuki Nikaido and Takuya Asakura.)
AloJapan.com